


Ensi Asked

by Minutia_R



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: 5+1 Things, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Gen, Gods and Spirits, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 15:03:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8537659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minutia_R/pseuds/Minutia_R
Summary: Knowing the origin of a thing gives you power over it.  One day, Ensi will learn them all.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the @womenofssss Friday Challenge (Never Give Up), but it's a bit darker than it was supposed to be, I think. Anyway, thank you to Kiraly for her encouragement and suggestions, both the ones I took and the ones I didn't.

Ensi asked: where does the rain come from?

Kaino pulled her back under the shadow of the umbrella and said, rain comes from the clouds. And clouds come from the mist off the lake. And the lake comes from rain.

Ensi saw that it was true, that the wild water people walked in orderly circles, like the waxing and waning moon, like winter followed fall. And she called the names of the water people, and she told them their origin, and she never needed an umbrella in the rain.

#

Ensi asked: where do babies come from?

Isä said, um. And Isä said, well. And Isä said, you see--

Tuuli said, for heaven’s sake, Saku, it’s a perfectly natural question.

The tips of Veeti’s ears turned red, and he muttered, now you’re in for it.

Tuuli gave Ensi a book. The book was small and floppy and Tuuli’s hands were pointy, with long nails and lots of bracelets. Tuuli said that they could look at the book together, or Ensi could look at it herself, and if she had any more questions she could always ask.

Ensi traced the pictures in the book with curious fingers, and she saw that it was a power in herself, like the power to command the water people. It was sleeping now, but one day it would wake up.

One day it did. Deep in the forest, Ensi called a man to herself, and he came.

#

Ensi asked: where did the illness come from?

Äiti said, no one knows, sweetie. One day it was just there.

Eino didn’t say anything. He stacked the wood carefully around the troll’s body for the cleansing fire, and he didn’t notice Ensi climbing up the other side, curious fingers probing skin and bone.

Everything came from somewhere. Everything had an origin. And you could find it, if you knew the ways of the forest. You saw where it had passed. You tracked it to its lair. And you killed it.

One day Ensi would.

#

Ensi asked: where does magic come from?

The grass people said, from the forest. The dead people said, from the gods. And Ensi’s own self whispered in her ear: from knowing the origins of things, and their names. From words rightly spoken. From the strength of one’s nature.

Every day Ensi’s nature grew stronger. She learned the names of the spirits and the ways of the gods. The forest was hers, and whatever challenged her in it, died.

#

Ensi asked: where did the gods come from?

Thunder crashed in the heavens and the surface of the lake roiled, and told of a time when the world was still unformed. A time before men or trees or dry land. A world of sky and wave.

Ensi pulled up her hood, adjusted the strap of her rifle, and continued on her path.

When she slept, she dove beneath the surface of the water, into the dreams of all mankind, among the fanged and deadly things that swam there. She saw where the gods had passed. She would find their origin. If they had made the world, then they must answer for it.

One day they would.

#

Ensi asked: where does death come from?

**Author's Note:**

> In case it wasn't clear from context, Isä = father and Äiti = mother.


End file.
